Marble Point CLO Advisory Startup Acquires ACAS Platform

Marble Point Credit Management of Greenwich, Conn. has acquired the CLO platform of American Capital Credit Management.

The deal announced Tuesday shifts eight CLOs totaling about $3.4 billion in assets under management to Marble Point, which is headed by former Golden Tree Asset Management executive Thomas Shandell.

Marble Point was formed last March and is affiliated with Eagle Point Credit Management, a firm that invests in the riskiest tranches of CLOs issued by other firms.

Marble Point will acquire a majority stake in seven of the deals issued through American Capital’s ACAS CLO platform since 2012. All eight CLO deals will be renamed under Marble Point’s forthcoming platform.

In a press release, Shandell called the acquisition “significant milestone” in the firm’s entry into CLOs. He said the deal will provide “meaningful benefits” and “accelerate” business plans and objectives.

As revealed in the company’s advisory registration filing, those deals will include advisory and investment work involving the junior and equity tranches of CLOs, similar to deals conducted by Eagle Point.

American Capital declined comment on the deal. Earlier this year, ACAS embarked on divestitures of certain investment assets as it announced and began planning a $3.4 billion merger with Ares Management (another significant player in the CLO market).

The company stated in May that it might consider selling off other parts of its business prior to the merger’s completion.

American Capital shareholders approved the merger just within just the past three weeks (Dec. 15).

American Capital last deal was ACAS CLO IX, a $405.5 million static transaction last March that is included in the Marble Point takeover.

Eagle Point managing partner Thomas Majewski will double as a managing partner with Shandell in the Marble Point venture. The firm was formed in March through investments by Shandell, Eagle Point, GreensLedge Holdings and Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

Daniel Spinner, a portfolio manager and member of Eagle Point’s senior investment team, is also an investor in Marble Point, according to regulatory filings. It was approved as an SEC-registered advisory firm in August.

American Capital Management, headed by president and chief investment officer Luke P. LaValle, Jr., has been securitizing senior loans since its first middle-market deal in 2000. It was not disclosed if any American Capital investment advisors or specialists will be moving to Marble/Eagle Point in the transaction.

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